Life-saving suit.



J. H. CASSIDY. LIFE SAVING SUIT. APPLICATION FILED SEPT'ZB, I915.RENEWED NOV- 24,1917.

Patented Jilly 2,1918.

Mill

2 3d for the escape of air and body moisture from p the suit while it isbeing worn..

avinia. Y

.rnn nniernn. casein, or recurrent, ear-mac, cairn.

amt-sac surr.

hpecltltion of Letters itatent.

- Patented duly a; are.

Application filed September at, law, denial Ito. racer. Renewed Novemberat, 1917. Serial J'do. ddd'l.

and resident of the city of Montreal, in the Province of Quebec andDominion of Canada, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inLife-Saving Suits, of

which the following is a full, clear, and-ex- 'act description.

llll

This invention relates to improvements in life saving suits, and theobject is to provide a waterproof buoyant suit which may be very quic lyand easily put on in the event of a marine disaster, or which may beworn by a person venturing on hazardous marine expeditions; 7

A. further object is to provide a suit of this character which isparticularly adapted to maintain the weareras warm and dry as possible.

A. still further object is to provide a suit which may bereadilyadjustable to the body of the. wearer, so as to impart amaximum ofsafety and comfort. Still another object is to provide meansAnother'object is to provide a suit'having a buoyant portion which maybedetached and worn separately.

To accomplish these objects, ll'provide a suit of waterproof material 1which completely envelops the wearers' body, with the exception of theface. The upper portion of the suit may be double walled, and betweenthewalls thereof, buoyant material of very low specific gravity 1Sdisposed to insure flotation, or the buoyant material'may be separateand detachable. The feet of the device are preferably weighted with somematerial of high specific gravity, such as lead, so as to insure thewearer an upright position in thewater- The arms of the suit are closedat the ends and divided into three parts, one forming an inclosure forthe wearers thumb, a second for the index- I finger and a third for theremaining three fill lib

fingers, thus provlding an arrangement which allows ordinary use of thefingers combined with 'a considerable degree of protection from thecold. The hood is also double walled on to forman air space and give thewearer protection from the sun. In order to adapt the suit to varioussizes of people, a belt'is the top, sides and back the waist to hold thebuoyant material down in its proper place. in order to assist the beltin this and positively guard against upward pressure of the buoyantmaterial choking the wearer, an adjustable strap is provided which maybe tightened around xzi provided extending between the wearers legsand-connected to the belt at front and back, and operating to positivelyholdthe' belt .and upper part of the device in proper position. In orderto facilitate the use of the hands and feet, the device is providedatthe wrists and ankles with means for tightening the garment toaccurately fit the wearer. r

in the drawings which illustrate the invent-ion:- i

Figure l is a perspective view of the suit as worn. v

Fig. 2 is a vertical sectional view through one leg and the body of thesuit.

Fig. 3 is a front elevation of the empty suit.

Fig. 4L is a fragmentary view of one footshowing the means for adjustingthe same to the wearers comfort.

' Fig. 5 is a sectional view of the hand portion of'the suit showing theautomaticadjusting means.

Fig. 6 is a fraentary sectional view showing'a slightly modifieddisposition of the float. w

Referring more particularly to the'drawings, ll designates the bodyportion, 12 the legs, 13 the arms, and 14 the hood, of a suit ofwaterproof material formed in one piece,

and arranged to completely cover the .Wearers body, with the exceptionof the face. The suit is dimensioned to give ample room for very tall orvery stout persons, and also to permit a" person fully clothed to put onthe suit in a una of time.

without'the necessity of removing clothing or boots. The entire width ofthe suit is open at the shoulders,- as shown at T5, in. Fig. 8, so thatit may be gotten into. without dculty. The material around the open ingis provided with a suitably arranged draw string 16, so that when aperson is once in the suit, they may by pulling on the string, aw thegarment tight around the neck to prevent the entrance of water. The

- hood 1d isattached' to the back of the'suit,

and is provided with an elastic insert in the lltltl lltlh 'neclr, sothat when the hood drawn over ltd around the neck over'the upper edge ofthe suit, and aid in excluding the water. For the same purpose'the edgeof the face opening 17 is provided with elastic reinforcement to drawthe material tightly around the wearers face. It will of course beunderstood that, if desired, draw strings may be used in both of theselocations to replace the elastic inserts, but this is not thoughtdesirable, as these drawing strings require manipulation, while theelastic inserts are automatic in their action. The body portion of thesuit is provided with an inner wall 18 extending from approximately neckto waist, and forming with the material of the suit a pocket or chamber19 in which bodies of suitable buoyant material'may be placed. Thismaterial may be cork, light waterproof vegetable fiber, such as is usedin making floating boat cushions, or maybe hollow receptaclesof rubber,metal or other suitable material. In the breast of thesuit, a pocket isformed for the reception of a stimulant or food receptacle 21, fromwhich the food may be drawn into the wearers mouth through a tube 22.

The feet or boots 123 are provided with heavy soles 2 1, such as sheetsof lead or the like which will insure the wearer a vertical position inthe water. Owing to the. looseness' of the suit, it is necessary toprovide for an approximately good fit of the boots when the suit isworn, in case it becomes necessary for the wearer to walk on deck orwade ashore. For this purpose, the outer side of each ankle isprovidedwith cooperating fasteningdevices 25 similar to those used on overshoes,'or of any other'desirable pattern, by means of which the ankle portionsor boot tops may be adjusted to fit closely around the wearers ankles,and thus hold the bootsv rigidly in position. The same necessityprevails with respect to the hand or glove portions 26 of the suit. Asthe clasps would be considerably in the way on the wearers wrists, andwould moreover be difiicult to fasten, it has been found desirable toprovide an elastic insert 27. in the wrists of the suit, which will beexpanded when the wearers hand passes through, and will then closearound the wrist and hold the gloveportions 26 firmly inposition. Itwill be understood that this arrangement of both the body and the gloveis necessary as the arm and leg lengths of thesuit must be madesufliciently large to accommodate longarmed and long-legged persons, sothat if a short-armedor short-legged person wore the suit, the glovesand boots would be ,out'of place on the hands and feet much of the time,unless retained. A further advantage ,of this arrangement is that allthe fullness ing the suit, and at the same time providing --a maximum ofwarmth possible in conjunction with freedom of movement.

It is obvious that on small people, the fullness or additional leglength might permit the buoyant bodies. 20 to rise so high that theywould seriously inconvenience the wearer,-and possibly by pressing up atthe neck have a choking effect. To overcome this difliculty, a belt 28is provided passing through keepers or loops 29 on the suit, so that thebelt is maintained in proper place. A strap 30 is secured at one end tothe back portion of the belt, and is adapted to be passed between thewearers legs and secured to the front portion of the ,belt by means of abuckle or other suitable device 31. This strap will hold the'belt andtherefore the body portion of the suit in proper position and eliminatethe discomfort and possible danger just pointed out.

Owing to the possible difiiculty of drying a dampened float and theimpossibility of using same independentlytof the whole suit, it may befound desirable to locate the fioat outside the garment, as shown inFig. 6. The float will be in the form of a detachable and separatelywearable vest 33 provided with a waterproof cover, and be preferablyfastened up the front and secured to the suit by any suitable fasteningdevice 34 coo erback, and the fastening device 31 at the front, so as tobe available whether the entire suitor only the vest is worn.

It is obvious that since the suit is entirely waterproof, it will besubstantially air tight,

and that therefore any air or moisture confined in the suit when it isput on would be retained. Such a condition would be a seriousdisadvantage and might even prove a menace to the safety of the wearer,as the perspiration induced by swimming would dampen the interior of thesuit and the wearers clothes, so that if the water was at all cold, achill would certainly result when the wearer became exhausted.Furthermore, the lack of ventilation would be decidedly uncomfortable,and if air was imprisoned in the suit would have the effect of renderingthe suit unwieldy. To overcome this, air outlet valves 32 are providedin each shoulder of the suit to provide a vent a arina? will normallyremain closed to prevent the entrance of water.

It will be understood that any suitable material may be used in themanufacture of the suit, but it is preferred to use sheet rubber orrubber impregnated fabric having a suitable warm lining, so that aperson wearing the suit who has not had opportunity to put on otherclothing will be protected .from the cold. It will also be understoodthat wherever desirable, clasps, straps or draw strings may be used toreplace the elastic bands, or vice versa, without departing from thespirit of the invention, and that all such changes and minormodifications which. constitute mechanical equivalents, while notspecifically described, are held to form a part of the invention and beincluded therein.

Having thus described my invention, what claim is In combination in alife saving suit, a onepiece garment completely covering the wearer withthe exception of the face, a vest filled with buoyant material extendingfrom the neck to waist and normally attached to the garment, meanssecuring the vest to the garment at the back of the neck, a strapattached to the back of the vest and passing between the garment legs tothe vest front arranged to adjust the garment to the wearers bodyindependently of the vest.

In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand, in the presence of twowitnesses.

JOHN HUNTER CASSIDY. Witnesses:

C. W. TAYLoR, Gr. M. MORELAND.

